There is an interesting movement around two Funambol community projects: the syncml clients for Thunderbird and for Palm WebOS.

Mozilla Messaging is rapidly pushing Thunderbird 3 out of beta and Funambol’s community is ramping up interest in its addon. Carlo Codega, the main developer, started working on a port to Thunderbird 3 of the plugin. There is a first build for Windows, but it has issues and it’s only recommended for developers to fix it. Since the Thunderbird plugin depends on Funambol’s C++ SDK the Thunderbird addon needs to be ported to Linux and Mac OS X. Funambol offered a bounty under the Code Sniper program to prepare the builds for these two operating systems. If you are looking for a way to fill the afternoons and evenings during the holidays go to Funambol addon for Mozilla pages and get the chance to win $50 or more.

Somewhat connected to Mozilla, is the community effort to port the Funambol Java SDK to javascript in order to build a syncml client for WebOS, Palm’s operating system. An informative discussion sparked on Funambol’s forum around the Code Sniper grant and the first attempt of the javascript port done by long-time contributor Mathew McBride. This project and Mozilla’s are connected because if Thunderbird’s addon used a javascript syncml engine instead of the C++ libs, it would improve its multiplatform support. Anybody interested in helping please join the discussion and start planning the development of the Funambol client for Web OS.

The winter holidays are a provide a good opportunity to do something useful in that downtime between celebrations. Funambol’s community programs provide three ways to have fun and earn some cash, too.

1. Participate in the Code Sniper program: it rewards the efforts of the open source community to help build the open source mobile cloud. The Funambol project provides the basic framework, including server and clients, that implements an open standard (SyncML, also know as OMA DS and OMA DM). You can propose to develop new clients and connectors or to help improving an existing project. Each contribution counts, although developing code counts more: writing work items, writing full bug reports and testing them is worth $10; fixing issues and developing new features is decided by the community and it can reach $500. If you want to start a new project you may want to read How to develop a SyncML client the Agile way. Or you can help an existing project, like Thunderbird: check the list of active requirements. Bounties go up to $500. Find details about Funambol Code Sniper and also on Galoppini’s blog.

2. Test your new phone with Phone Sniper program: if you get a new mobile phone as a present, make the most out of it and rush to myFUNAMBOL, sign up for an account (if you don’t already have one) and test its sync and push capabilities. Send a report back to Funambol and earn $25. Check the list of phones that need testing on Phone Sniper program pages.

3. Translate a Funambol client with L1on sniper program: one simple way to get started with Funambol is to download the code and compile it yourself. Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to translate the client into your local language and earn $250. Once you’re done, send the patch with the translated files and some screenshots of the application. Detailed instructions are on L10n Sniper program pages.

I was very concerned when DG Competition announced that they needed to take more time to investigate the merger of Oracle and Sun because of MySQL. The deal for me seemed not only natural for business reasons, but also naturally neutral towards consumers. MySQL is safe also in Oracle’s hands because the project, with so many big companies knowing its internals, is basically too big to fail now. Even if Oracle should decide not to finance its development (which makes absolutely no business sense for them) there should be enough providers out there capable of offering support to users and further its development (software patents threat excluded).

The database market is highly dynamic, and the software on which these enterprises are built can neither be owned nor their development paths easily controlled or curtailed.

And the damage for this wait is huge, not just for the companies, but for the employee. With Sun loosing $100Million per month, there is not much time to waste. Says Fabrizio:

The alternative to a full merger is likely to be the exit of SUN Microsystems from the database market. […] Their likely exit from the market will harm the open source software market and further entrench the position of proprietary software providers.

I hope that Commissioner Kroes listens and that Funambol’s letter can help clear her doubts.